Category Archives: Resources

Just a quick update to announce that I’ve gone through my Annotated Bibliography to add 13 more entries (bringing it up to a count of 107!) and to add quick annotations to all of the entries on the main page. Now, on the main page, each entry has the basic citation and also a brief note about whether the book is recommended, recommended for the pictures, recommended only if there’s nothing else available, or not recommended. The negative notes generally contain a bit of extra information about why I don’t think the book is worth looking at.

There are a lot of recommended books on the list – because there are a lot of great books on historical costume out there – but hopefully my Annotated Bibliography can be some help in determining which books fit a given subject and are worth tracking down. Most of the recommended books have more detailed annotations included in linked posts of their own, for more details on content and usage.

For my own purposes, I find the A.B. useful when I’m researching a new period or a specific topic, or when I have a bit of extra cash and want to figure out what book to buy next. Sadly, some of the books I desperately wish to acquire – especially those byNorah Waugh – are consistently very expensive, and out of my price range. Someday! In the meantime, that is what libraries are for.

This is the revised edition; it was previously published under the titles New Vogue Sewing Book and Vogue Sewing Book; first version published 1985. This is a decent general reference book for modern sewing. I personally own this book, and would recommend it as a general reference, provided a copy can be found inexpensively.

By Ava Trimble

I'm a historian of domestic life, clothing, and needle arts, working on my M.A. in public history at New Mexico State University. I like making connections between cultural history, social history, material culture, and (dare I say it?) experimental archaeology. I believe in studying the history of clothes, sewing, and housework with as much intellectual rigor as any other aspect of history, and I have a vendetta against polyester reproduction garments in museum exhibits.

Join me as I research obscure stitching techniques, strive to create obsessively accurate reproduction clothes, and opine at length about the comfort and functionality of various iterations of undergarments.